1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to rotatable labels and more particularly to a rotatable label system and method for constructing same.
2. Description of the Background Art
Many consumer product containers are labeled with various types of information. This information may include, for example, product directions for use, warnings, dosage amounts, ingredients, advertisements, company logos, and other artwork. Such information is typically presented on a label wrapped around the container or is disposed directly on the container. In many instances, however, the available space on a single label is insufficient to display all of the information a product manufacturer may want to present to the consumer.
To provide additional space for the presentation of information on a given container, it has been proposed that a rotatable outer label be positioned around a container having an inner label or indicia imprinted on the container outer surface. The outer label typically has a transparent portion, and by rotating the outer label relative to the container, the inner label or container surface can be viewed through the transparent portion. Such a construction permits information to be displayed on both the outer label and the inner label or container surface. This label configuration substantially increases the available space upon which information may be presented.
Despite the advantages of having a rotatable outer label on a container, it has been impractical to employ rotatable outer labels due to the relatively high cost and difficulty of applying such a rotatable label to a container. One significant difficulty has been applying such a rotatable label to a container in an efficient and rapid manner. Indeed, conventional labeling machines and methods do not provide for the efficient or rapid application of a rotatable label to a container.
Another limitation of prior rotatable label systems has been the cost of applying the rotatable labels to containers, particularly on a mass production scale. Conventionally, labels are applied to containers by applying an adhesive to either the label or the container. This manner of application yields a label that is fixed, and not rotatable, relative to the container, lience, label application methods which utilize an adhesive to secure labels to containers have been problematic because of the need for the rotatable labels to rotate about, and not be permanently affixed to the associated containers.
Consequently, a need exists to provide a rotatable label system and method by which a rotatable label may be cost-effectively and rapidly mounted on a container without preventing the label from being rotatable relative to the container. Additionally, a need exists to provide an effective and efficient manner of mounting a rotatable label to a container utilizing conventional label application machinery.